Poolside Bar - Valentine's Day Music Special with Matt Brooks at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

From 7:00pm

Free Entry - Non-Members Welcome

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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Kent Fire & Rescue Service - Annual Safety and Wellbeing Plan

Kent Fire & Rescue Service is asking residents to comment on their Annual Safety and Wellbeing Plan, which provides an update on the work of the Service and their future plans for 2020/21.

The Plan covers some investments for the future they are making, where they want to set the Council Tax for 2020/21.

All responses will be treated confidentially and it should only take around 20 minutes to read the full Plan and complete the questionnaire.

You can take part in the survey, here >> http://bit.ly/2QTWd7Z

Upchurch Matters

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Poolside Bar Music with Lewis Ross at Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

From 7:30pm

Free Entry - Non-Members Welcome

Jenny Giles - Upchurch River Valley Golf Course

Telephone: 01634 360626

Website: www.rivervalleygolf.co.uk

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Swale Borough Councillors Give Money to Local Communities From The Member Grants Scheme

People have until the end of February to get a grant from their councillor to help improve their local community.

Each of Swale’s 47 councillors has £2,400 available every year to support small-scale, local community projects through the council’s member grants scheme.

The scheme supports projects that benefit areas such as culture, sport, recreation, health, environment and community safety.

Cllr Roger Truelove, leader of the council, said:

“We make more than £136,000 available every year for local people and organisations to use on what’s important in their community.

They are the ones who know what their area needs, and these grants are a way for them help to make things happen.

So far this year we’ve allocated almost £49,000 to 61 different organisations and, there’s another £14,000 going through the system that will soon be allocated.

Organisations can apply for as little or as much as they need by completing an application form and submitting it to the council or their local councillor.

This scheme has already helped a local project addressing knife crime and youth violence by Diversity House, replaced the batteries and pads in the defibrillator at the Alexander Centre, and paid for the roundabout at the Newington Recreation Ground.

Eleven councillors got together to contribute £2,950, the largest amount so far this year, to The Harmony Therapy Trust in Sheerness who provide free therapy to those in need.

Alongside the bigger grants, we’ve also provided for smaller organisations including £134.28 for Rodmersham School’s litter picking equipment and £232.44 for the 8th Sheppey Scout Group’s new gas water boiler.

No request is too big or small, and sometimes the smallest grant can make a big difference to a local area.

This year’s scheme will run until the end of February and we encourage all local community groups to apply.”

For more information on how to apply for a member grant visit: www.swale.gov.uk/member-grants

List of grants made locally to date:

Upchurch Parish Council

Install roundels and slow signs around the village

£405

Cllr Alan Horton

Hartlip Community Hub

Annual ''Hartlip Sings Christmas'' event

£150

Cllrs Alan Horton and Richard Palmer

Lower Halstow Parish Council

Celebration for VE Day 75

£150

Cllr Corrie Woodford

Upchurch Cricket Club

New disabled access lift

£400

Cllrs Alan Horton and Richard Palmer

Lower Halstow Over 60s

Christmas party

£200

Cllrs Roger Clark and Corrie Woodford

Friends of Newington Recreation Ground

New roundabout for playground

£200

Cllrs Alan Horton and Richard Palmer

1^st Upchurch Guides

Costs of resources

£300

Cllr Richard Palmer

1^st Upchurch Brownies

Costs of resources

£270

Cllr Alan Horton

Newington Parish Council

Fence around the perimeter of the zipwire

£800

Cllrs Alan Horton and Richard Palmer

Swale Borough Council

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Window Smashed and Vehicle Damaged - Newington

Hartlip, Newington & Upchurch Ward

Crime Number: 46/1708/20; 46/1727/20

Between 12:56pm and 1:10pm on Friday 3rd of January, an unknown person fired 2 shots with a catapult as they drove past the car wash in Newington High Street, Sittingbourne, which smashed the waiting room window and damaged a vehicle.

If you have any information that could help investigators please contact Kent Police on telephone number 101 and quote the relevant crime number above.

For more information on crime prevention visit: www.kent.police.uk

Kent Community Messaging

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Charlotte Statham 1895-1975, Experiences of a Female Farm Worker by David Wood

Born in Metfield Suffolk in 1895, Charlotte Statham had a hard life from the beginning. While still a child her parents had to enter the workhouse during the early twentieth century. It isn’t known if Charlotte accompanied them but she went into domestic service for a wealthy Metfield family aged fourteen after her father had died which guaranteed her work and accommodation.

Charlotte married Henry Statham from Chatham in 1917. They had two boys named George and Arthur.

During the 1920s the couple worked on farms at Allhallows near Rochester and in the Swale area. They eventually settled at Ridham Farm in Iwade working for A Hinge & Sons during the1930s and 1940s where they looked after livestock, mainly cattle. In 1947 while still working, Charlotte had to look after her grandson Howard for about two years after his mother had died.

Charlotte and Henry had a traumatic experience while working and living at Ridham Farm in February 1953 when the Great Flood struck and the couple became trapped upstairs in their house as flood water engulfed the building and almost reached the downstairs ceiling.

The couple were eventually rescued from the farmhouse by their son George who rowed a boat to the building and helped his parents into it from an upstairs window. Meanwhile, soldiers involved in the Swale flood rescue operation had driven a lorry along the railway embankment on the shore and were able to assist. While this was happening George returned to the farm in his boat where he rescued a horse trapped in a stable up to its neck in water. As he towed the horse with a rope attached, the terrified animal made the experience difficult by struggling all the way to the shore but the rescue ended successfully. After this Charlotte and Henry temporarily stayed with their son George at Biggin Hill.

After reading about the flood incident in the Kent Messenger newspaper, a lady sent Charlotte and Henry a ten-shilling note and a box of sugar lumps for the horse.

Because of his traumatic experience in the flood, Henry Statham suffered serious psychological problems and had to enter Chartham Mental Hospital where he died in 1955. A Hinge & Sons who owned Ridham Farm meanwhile offered Charlotte alternative accommodation and work in Upchurch which she accepted and she soon occupied number 1 of the three semi-detached thatched cottages which once existed at Wetham Green. Although she lost her husband, she had nine cats and a dog called ‘Smokey’ to keep her company.

Pictured:

Charlotte Statham at the gate of the Wetham Green thatched cottage with Son George and daughter in law Joan in their 1936 Austin 12/4 car in the 1950’s.

Charlotte Statham, daughter in law Joan Statham with grandchildren Linda and Howard at the Wetham Green thatched cottage in the 1950’s.

Charlotte Statham with her (large) cat at the Wetham Green thatched cottage in the 1950’s.

Charlotte Statham in domestic service with the Squires family in Metfield Suffolk around 1910.

Charlotte Statham at Ridham Farmhouse with her dog, probably 1930’s or 40’s.

Charlotte Statham at the Ham Green cottage around 1970.

Grandchildren, Linda and Howard standing by the old bridge near Ridham Dock around 1951.

Charlotte Statham with her dog Smoky.

The thatched cottage which Charlotte occupied was a tied cottage which meant that she could live there while she kept her job. The cottage had four rooms, a living room and scullery with a copper for washing clothes downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. It did not have a bathroom so an outside privy behind the cottage served as a toilet. Running tap water did not exist in any of the three cottages, a tap in the back garden had running cold water. Joyce Bass (formerly Wildish) remembers a cold water tap eventually being installed in each cottage. Overall, Joyce describes the cottages as being cosy inside.

A sizeable garden existed at the back of each cottage and a communal allotment was located on the left side where fruit and vegetables could be grown. This suited Charlotte who spent a lot of time gardening.

Charlotte’s neighbours in the other two cottages were an old unmarried man named James Edmonds who lived at number 2 and Lou and Lilian Wildish and their family who resided in number 3.

The cottages were very old but although the exact age is unknown Joyce Bass says that when she lived there as a child they were believed to have been about 300 years old. The cottages are marked on an early Upchurch map dated 1778.

The thatched cottages were finally demolished during the 1960s and replaced with a bungalow (with a second bungalow years later). Charlotte then moved to 2 Callows Cottages at Ham Green where she spent the remainder of her life. John Hinge who lived at Ham Green and worked as a director of A Hinge & Sons made a kind gesture when he allowed Charlotte to stay in Callows Cottages rent-free when she finally retired.

Usually travelling to work on an old bicycle and dressed in blue coveralls and a beret, Charlotte had a good relationship with her work colleagues at Ham Green where she worked in the orchards and fields. Her female colleagues included Nancy Friend, Elsie Baldock and Rose Waters from Ham Green and Marj Lacy from Drakes Close. Charlotte made friends with the Baldock family at Greylag at Ham Green. Rita Baldock says that they called Charlotte ‘Stat’ and that she usually came to their house for a meal at Christmas.

Charlotte, who her grandson Howard described as being ‘abrupt at times but with a heart of gold,’ remained at Callows Cottages until she died aged 80 in 1975. She worked almost right up to her death and had chosen to work so long into old age because of fear of losing her house and having nowhere to live which probably stemmed from the insecurity and experiences of her earlier years. 

Charlotte Statham’s experiences were typical of farmworkers in earlier times but she loyally stuck to her job on the land, she worked hard and faced difficult times resolutely.

Thanks very much to Linda and Howard Statham for their photographs and help with compiling this article.

David Wood

About David

David Wood was born, raised and still lives in Upchurch today. He is able to write from personal experience about village life and the changes that have taken place over the years, making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable and detailed historical study of the village.

David's book is available from David at david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + postage and packing.